Setsuko

Girls' name

Japanese name; meaning depends on kanji

Setsuko has been given to 347 babies in the U.S. since 1915. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1928, with 36 recorded.

Babies named Setsuko, 1945

1 in 531,000

Setsuko over time, 1880–2025

Girls

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Setsuko: meaning, origin, and history

Japanese name; meaning depends on kanji

Japanese

What Setsuko means

Setsuko is documented with more than one possible Japanese character combination. The Latin-letter spelling records a pronunciation; it does not specify one unique kanji spelling or one universal meaning.

Possible character meanings include section, period, verse, melody, child.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Setsuko is used in Japanese.

Another recorded pronunciation is /se̞.t͡sɨᵝ.ko̞/ for Setsuko.

Origin, language, and formation

Setsuko is used in English, French, Portuguese and Tagalog. Its origins include Japanese.

Setsuko comes through Japanese せつこ.

Pronunciation and spelling

In French, Setsuko is pronounced /sɛt.su.ko/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 347 girls were recorded with the name Setsuko between 1915 and 1945. Its highest annual count was 36 in 1928; its best national rank was #1,283 in 1928.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Setsuko?

Setsuko had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1945, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1945: 1 in 531,000; 5 of 2,652,840 births
Among girls only: 1 in 261,000; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 1945: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 367,763 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Setsuko sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 1945 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%

Class of 30Under 1%

Grade of 100Under 1%

School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 367,763 children born in 1945 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Setsuko. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Setsukos were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Setsuko was born before 1928 — so the typical Setsuko is around 97 today.

Median birth year: 1928; About 97 years old
Biggest decade: 1920s; 47.8% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 86.5%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 0; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1920s — 47.8% of all recorded uses (166).

Is Setsuko rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago: —; Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago: New entry; Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago: —; Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago: —; Not published both years
Share of its own peak: 0%; Peak was 1928 (36)
Years since peak: 97; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 30.8% average annual change
Best rank ever: #1,283; 1928

Spellings of Setsuko

Setsuko is not the most common spelling — Mitsuko is, with 62.0% against Setsuko's 38.0%.

Mitsuko62.0%565
Setsuko38.0%347

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Setsuko is used

Across 1910–2025, Setsuko was most concentrated in Hawaii — about 1 in 3,226 girls, against 1 in 62,641 across all states with data. It was least common in California (1 in 100,000).

131 per 100,000

State popularity map

Most concentrated

1Hawaii1 in 3,226
2California1 in 100,000

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Setsuko has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Setsuko by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #1,283; 1928
Peak year: 1928; 36 that year
First recorded: 1915
Last recorded: 1945
All-time count: 347
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Setsuko

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

Setareh Setayesh Mitsuko Hatsuko Nezuko Shizuko Tsuruko Chizuko Natsuko Nobuko Kazuko Teruko Yasuko Matsuko Seth Haruko Tsuyuko Katsuko Tatsuko Seteria Etsuko Itsuko Mutsuko Yuko

Sibling names for Setsuko

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

For a sister

Edward Paul Charline Ardis Germaine Darline Marvel Richard

For a brother

Frances Jules Bud Rolland Normand Laverne Jewel Carrol

Explore around Setsuko

Top names of 1928, Setsuko's peak year The 1920s in full Other names that peaked in 1928 Girls' names starting with S